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  CHAPTER 2

  EWIN STOPPED IN the doorway of the throne room with great uncertainty at being summoned. His shadow loomed across the ground and, upon the sight of it, Sybelle and Deros looked up from the table. Sybelle grinned widely, clapping her hands together, “Ewin! Please, come in,” she said, gesturing for him to approach. He stumbled in, walking with brisk steps towards them.

  Sybelle slid back in her seat, clasping her hands together before briefly gesturing to the seat at her left side. She took a moment to choose her words, glancing briefly at Deros who sat on her right. Ewin swallowed thickly, eventually forcing himself to speak with a near-timid and cracking voice, “Do you require something of me?”

  “Yes,” Sybelle replied, prompt once he’d asked. “Deros is to take charge of our army in Gyles’s absence,” she said, looking to find that the soldier was not at all surprised by the promotion, “but I would have you assist him,” she finished, finally surprising him. “He doesn’t know our men, our ways, our defences and our resources. I know that Gyles entrusted me with much of the paperwork but you know of the reality beyond it.”

  Ewin wanted to shift with discomfort, that much was clear, but, instead, he bowed his head, “I’ll do my best to assist him as much as possible, your Majesty,” he said, rehearsed and tense.

  “Good,” Sybelle said, clapping her hands together before leaning forward in her seat. “Now, we have agreed that Lionessa is safe for the moment, but Azura’s ships will reach our shores any moment now and it will just be a matter of time before I’m to meet whomever has been sent to speak with us.”

  “Do you think they intend to speak?” Ewin asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Or do you think they intend to have their way with us?”

  Sybelle shifted with some unease, “It’s too soon to know for sure,” she said. “I’ll assume the worst, for the moment,” she said, “because assuming the worst will prepare us for the worst and preparedness will be what sees us through this.”

  Ewin sat back in his seat, taking in her words as best he could.

  Sybelle watched, chewing on her bottom lip as he came to terms with all the possibilities that would come with their failure. “I would not be so concerned,” Sybelle said, leaning forward in her seat and placing a hand on his arm. “We’ve agreed that pooling our resources—those of Lionessa and Evrad—is the best course of action. Thankfully, the war between us meant that our stocks of weapons and other resources are high.”

  Ewin remained largely silent, a thing that worried Sybelle to some extent. Ewin didn’t have Gyles’s intelligence, nor had she ever had the intentions of replacing him as such, but she’d also admired Gyles’s inability to remain silent and, that, was what she wanted from Ewin.

  “Whatever happens,” she went on, hoping that her words would be of some comfort to him, “Lionessa can withstand a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, behind our walls if need be. But, of course, we must hope that such a thing needs never happen.” She hung her head, taking a deep breath as she glanced up from beneath her lashes, in Deros’s direction where he sat with stone cold resolve. “I cannot forget, of course, that Evrad is not as well protected with a wall such as ours. Because of that, I want to move as quickly as possible, before Azura thinks of exploiting such a weakness.” Receiving nothing from Ewin, she patted the armrests as she braced herself and stood, exhaling softly, “Evrad has fallen into my lap and I would not have everything it may contribute to us fall into their hands,” she said. Both men rose from their seats when she did, looking to her for instruction that she didn’t think needed to be given. “Go then,” she said, “I would not have you lingering for very much longer.”

  Deros and Ewin glanced at each other and then moved out of their places promptly while beneath her stare. Deros followed Ewin out of the room and into the very depths of the palace, staring into his back only because Ewin purposefully sped up whenever he caught up to him and chose to walk side-by-side with him. “You’re filled with concerns?” Deros asked, attempting to make conversation.

  “How can I not be when our kingdom is being threatened?” Ewin retorted, his voice dropping to one that was dark and not the slightest bit welcoming.

  “Have you been in your position here for very long?” Deros asked, not deterred.

  “What position?” Ewin asked, with a scoff and a shake of his head. “I’m nothing but a soldier.”

  Deros’s brows furrowed together and he tilted his head slightly, not that Ewin could see his confusion. “But you’ve been put in a trusted position,” he declared.

  Ewin shoved open one of the large doors at the end of a corridor, jerking a lit torch from the wall and pointing it into the room of weapons. “During the fight with Evrad, shortly after Queen Sybelle ascended to the throne, I became a trusted friend of our General. I’ve gained my position from friendship, being trusted, alone.”

  Deros’s eyes scanned the room where weapons were lined up against the wall, many laid in open crates for immediate distribution and use in a time of war. The light of the torch only illuminated a small corner of the room, leaving the rest of it shrouded in darkness and entirely to his imagination as to the numbers of weapons that had been stashed away. “How much do you have of everything?”

  “I would have to see the paperwork,” Ewin replied. “Gyles had everything in our store counted and Queen Sybelle spared not a single expense in acquiring triple the resources we already had. There is another store such as this behind the palace, as well as a sizeable amount of oil, arrows and bombards on the Lionessan walls.”

  “You were prepared for the very worst then,” Deros mused, nodding.

  “Queen Sybelle would not have allowed us to diminish our resources. For as long as we had men to fight, she needed to feel certain we had what to arm them with.”

  Deros nodded in understanding. He looked around, blinking rapidly as his eyes began to ache in their attempt to adjust to the insufficient amount of light. She was cautious, taking everything into account. She would have armed the people, commoners who did not know how to fight, to the teeth if it meant that they could defend themselves against an invasion, against a slaughter of their city and of their people.

  “What about recruits?” Deros asked, making his way out into the corridor.

  “We didn’t have time to go through a recruiting process before but we can now—train what we find as best as we possibly can in the little bit of time it takes for Azura to advance on us.”

  “Organise it then,” Deros instructed, leaning against the wall. “Find all the men fit enough for battle, train them, see to it that they’re ready,” he said. “If we’re lucky, the new recruits may never need see battle, but we cannot rely on luck alone.”

  “Do you believe that at all?” Ewin asked, dragging the door to the armoury room shut. He scoffed once more, appearing in disbelief, “Do you really believe we may never even need to clash swords with Azura?”

  “I didn’t say that,” Deros replied. “As it stands we have enough men to deal with a small conflict, but we need plenty of capable men to protect Lionessa, regardless of the size of the clash with Azura.”

  Ewin’s eyebrows shot up curiously, though it was clear that he still didn’t grasp the magnitude of the situation. Deros shook his head. He could understand how he was relied upon due to his position of trust, rather than his intelligence.

  “You don’t become powerful and expect never to be trifled with,” Deros said. “We would have Lionessa prepared,” he added, beginning to make his way down the path from which they’d come. “For others to know we shouldn’t be taunted, we must make a display of our capabilities and prove it to them.”

  Ewin scoffed, “You’re not at all worried about any of this?” he asked, calling after him.

  “Why should I be?” Deros asked, glancing over his shoulder. “We currently stand at an advantage.”

  “There’s no advantage,” Ewin scoffed. “Azura know of our walls, they know of our resources because it
was from them that we acquired them in the first place. They come to us with full knowledge of our abilities.”

  “You have very little faith,” Deros remarked, chuckling.

  “You’re right about that,” Ewin said, placing a hand on Deros’s shoulder and spinning him around to face him. “I have no faith. I only have a desire to serve my Queen and a desire to see Lionessa survive.”

  Deros smirked, recognising the familiar flames of hate blazing in Ewin’s eyes. He knew that look so well. “And that is the reason you do as I say, correct?” He shrugged his shoulders, elaborating, “You wouldn’t even think to assist me when you don’t trust me.”

  “You’re right about that much,” Ewin said, a tinge of bitterness in his tone. “I don’t trust you and I don’t think you redeemed in the same way the Queen does.”

  “You needn’t think me as such,” Deros said, exhaling heavily as he turned away again. “Just do as I say, assist me in this, and our survival against Azura will be all that I need.”

  Ewin picked up the pace behind him, marching a few short steps behind him. “All that you need for what?”

  “To prove that I’m of a different mindset, of course,” Deros replied. He looked over his shoulder, smirking at Ewin’s confusion, “You think that I have ulterior motives, understandable, of course,” he said, “but you’ll see, in time, that I have no purpose here other than to serve the very same Queen that you do.”

  ***

  Sybelle waved the water in her bath back and forth over her, leaning back against the broad, muscular chest of Deros who sat behind her. The smile upon her face would irritate anybody who saw it. Anybody except Deros, who seemed to enjoy revelling in it, his arms wrapped tightly around her, his thumbs skimming her breasts lightly as he stared at her through half-lidded eyes. She’d come to crave these interactions more than she would’ve liked to admit, a feeling that was mutually shared. Their time together had become a bit like a lifeline to her. The sensations he caused her to feel with something as simple as his thumbs brushing against her skin was enough to remind her that, in spite of a soul that she thought to be dead, she was still very much alive while in his arms. The heat from the bath was almost dizzying, slipping her into a state that separated her from much of the outside world, fogged out of her mind with the thick steam. She chewed her bottom lip, looking up to admire him every so often, only to see him flash his gaze elsewhere and make her smile that much greater. She thought it almost sinful to smile at a time such as this, when everybody else held their breath against impending warfare, but she couldn’t help herself. She didn’t care for her sins and what people thought of them. She wanted to enjoy her peace, this feeling of being content, in spite of everything that happened around her. When her mind should have been plagued by so many thoughts, she found it best to be withdrawn from them long enough to see them more clearly.

  She likened her recent power to that of being in her bathtub, water filled right to the brim of it. If she moved to her heart’s content, enjoying the sensation the waves brought to her aching muscles, the turbulence and loss of water would be great. If she laid perfectly still, however, perhaps she could minimise the loss of water. That said, it couldn’t be denied that the very act of existing was enough to cause the water to overflow. So, as she saw it, if it made no difference at all, she would do as she pleased, whether it meant moving, or laying still.

  “You look happy,” he remarked, his breath brushing against her damp cheek.

  She exhaled softly, debating with herself. She was, she concluded. “I cannot help myself,” she replied, sliding her legs beneath the water, causing more waves. “I cannot help but be content in your company,” she said, nearly grinning at the confession.

  Deros chuckled and the rumble of his chest behind her back was a thrilling feeling, one that had her inching further into his embrace. He was such a quiet man, she’d always thought, one that kept his thoughts so close to himself unless he realised it suited him to share them. But he’d begun to speak to her more, as though fearing that prolonged silence between them would somehow, once again, widen the gap between them that they’d diminished so rapidly. “I cannot say I feel any differently,” he whispered, punctuating his thoughts with a kiss to her temple.

  She tilted her head to one side, allowing her to look up at him. She then turned away again, swishing the bath water over her legs. “Had you ever imagined such a thing for yourself?” she asked, curiously.

  “Hm?” He shifted, looking down at her.

  “Had you ever imagined you would be like this, so close to a Queen?” she asked, realising the conceited manner in which she referred to herself—a title she once shuddered at the sound of.

  He scoffed, shaking his head and shifting, causing the water to trickle down the sides of the bath. “Most certainly not,” he whispered. “I’m a man of no attachments, no real connections, no title, no land,” he said. He exhaled and his breath caused chills to run down her spine, instilling a shiver in her bones that she stifled only with the warmth of his embrace, “I could never have hoped to have gained such affections, nor the privilege of company such as your own.”

  She said nothing else, reclining further into him as she found comfort in his touch, and he did the same. His breaths were soft and rhythmic, brushing against her temple like the gentle flutter of a feather.

  “I never wanted any of this,” he confessed eventually, his voice so distant that she almost would’ve missed it. Her heavy eyelids parted and she glanced in his direction, her damp brows inching together as she look at him. He licked his lips, lowering his gaze to the water to avoid her, “I never held ambition for wealth, nor for status,” he said. “I wanted some respect. Even love, perhaps, if I thought myself lucky enough to be so blessed. My only desire for a title came from an ambition to have respect.”

  She slipped out of his embrace, turning herself in the tight space until she could reach out to him, stroking his cheek. He looked to be so withdrawn all of a sudden. So withdrawn and, yet, so very close. So vulnerable that she almost thought she could touch his heart. “And do you think you have respect now?”

  He opened his mouth to speak immediately but a knock on the door had it closing once more, clearing his throat instead as he looked away.

  Sybelle’s nostrils flared and she looked to the door to her bathing chambers, calling to the person on the other side of the door, “What is it?”

  Ellyn inched the door open, chewing on her bottom lip as she took a look at the two in the tub before immediately averting her gaze, keeping her judgement locked within herself. “Your Majesty,” she started, bowing her head, “the first of the small boats have made it to our shores. Soldiers of Azura are setting up camp upon our beaches.”

  Sybelle shot upright in the bath, beckoning impatiently for Ellyn to pass her a towel and her gown. She stepped out of the tub, being patted dry by the nervous servant while she attempted to pull her silk gown over her head. The breeze outside as she stormed her way across the square of the Capital was ice cold against her damp skin, leaving her trembling on her bare feet as she arrived at the top of the walls. “How long have they been there?” she asked, out of breath as she did her best to cover her chest with her arms.

  “Not long at all,” Ewin replied, leaning forward against the wall. “They’ve not done much it would seem.”

  “They know they don’t need to,” Sybelle said, exhaling softly, her eyes trained on the distant, moving lights on their coast. “They know that if they sit and do nothing for long enough then we’ll have no choice but to move them ourselves.”

  Ewin shrugged out of his coat after taking a single glance at her, slipping it over her shoulders. She didn’t miss the glare that he shot in Deros’s direction as he approached them, tugging a shirt on over his head. “They haven’t done anything?” he asked, looking out in the same direction Sybelle did.

  “No,” Sybelle replied, sighing. “We will leave them alone for the moment,” she said. “But I wan
t the gates to the ports not to be opened, not under any circumstance, and I want more men on those walls.”

  “Have word sent back to us as often as possible as to what their actions upon that beach are,” Deros added, his arms folded resolutely over his chest. “Short of speaking with them, that is the only way we know what their intentions are.”

  “Will you not make an attempt to meet them?” Ewin looked to her, utterly confused and having trouble making sense of her thoughts. She could hardly blame him, of course. There were times she was puzzled by her own thoughts also.

  “Not for the moment,” Sybelle said, cutting Deros off before he could reply. “Not until I’ve had a chance to think.”

  Ewin shook his head, blinking his confusion out of his eyes. “Shouldn’t anything worth thinking about be after you’ve spoken with them?” he persisted, turning to her. “After all, perhaps they have no intentions towards us as we imagine of them.”

  Sybelle’s lips tugged into a smirk and she hung her head in a bid to hide it. “Knowing what I know of them, I suspect I know why they’re here,” she said. “It’s not their intentions that I need think about—it’s mine.”

  CHAPTER 3

  SYBELLE BREATHED HEAVILY through her mouth, pressing the tips of her fingers below her eyes, just to the sides of her nose as she made her way down the corridor. She’d woken up from a night of poor sleep congested and sickly from her venture out in the cold after her bath, an action she certainly regretted now that her head pounded unforgivably.

  “Would you not prefer to return to your bed?” Deros asked, practically chasing her down the corridor as she fled from his concern.

  “What I prefer to do is not possible at the moment,” she replied, trying her best to speak when she couldn’t even breathe through her nose.